femme-nest

I have a Feminist Philosophy paper due in approximately 65 hours, so of course my desire to write about something else entirely is raging.

Recently, I saw Roger Calero, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) 2008 Presidential Candidate, speak at my University. Man, was it exciting to hear someone openly and unashamedly talk about abolishing capitalism and patriarchy. I had chills (well, the room was cold, but still)! Only several people attended his lecture, but the discussion afterward was really insightful and engaging. Feministbot that I am, I pointed out that throughout history, many radical women have sought to eradicate the capitalist system in order to move toward a socialist state. When I asked about any feminist activity within the SWP, however, he insisted that a separate group of feminists was not necessary within their group and that to create a specific women's space would be "paternalistic."

At first, I was a little ticked off that he assumed the feminist perspective to be irrelevant to his party; it's not as if the exploitation of women can't occur under socialism! And as far as I'm concerned, there aren't nearly enough feminist spaces in politics as it is. However, his group is actively working to end the subjugation of women while rallying support for a powerful labor party in the United States. Feminist ideals like reproductive rights, equal pay, subsidized child care, and socialized medicine aren't relegated to the margins of their philosophy, but are rooted at the very center of it. To me, that's incredibly exciting and empowering. Women, working on the frontlines to achieve their goals, are making their voices heard within this party, and the issues important to them are important to everyone involved.

Now, I'm not implying that one shouldn't identify as feminist or evaluate Calero's politics through a feminist framework. Those things are absolutely necessary to ensure that women aren't marginalized under any political or economic system, capitalist, socialist, or whatever. However, I do think it's fucking awesome that "women's issues" are not, to Calero at least, special interest problems to be tackled by someone else. In some ways, socialist feminists have transcended the "room of our own" and are involved in an entire political party that sees our concerns as valid and worth pursuing in the effort to radically change society.

I plan to work with the Campus Progressives to bring Alyson Kennedy, SWP Vice Presidential Candidate, to speak soon. Exciting!